Walkway

By Gene and Katie Hamilton, Tribune Media Services and Do It Yourself or Not? | June 4, 2012

You can't beat the rugged good looks and durability of brick pavers to make a dramatic walkway to a front door or a winding path through a garden. It's an upgrade that enhances a yard or property, so it's sure to be a good investment you'll enjoy for years to come. To install a 25-foot long by 4-foot wide brick walkway, a landscape contractor or mason will charge $1,458, which includes the labor and material. If you're a stout-hearted do-it-yourselfer, you can buy the materials -- good quality brick...

Wilmette officials are concerned about the number of residents completing home improvement projects without proper permits, some of which could contribute to flooding and other issues. If they seek variances after the fact, trustees are put in the awkward position of considering whether to allow a project that they otherwise might not have approved. An example came earlier this month when Peter Petrakis appeared before the village board seeking a variance for a brick paver front...

Fifteen years ago, Lake County jailers drove inmates to their courthouse hearings. Across the street. It seemed silly, but no one wanted to see prisoners paraded down South County Street in handcuffs. Today, a long, steeply sloped skywalk connects the Waukegan jail to the Lake County Circuit Court building one block away. While sometimes ridiculed for its quirky appearance and cardiovascular demands, the walkway is admired for its practicality -- especially during this frigid...

After it snows, the slippery, slushy sidewalks outside Phillip Swafford's Northwest Side apartment bear little resemblance to the ones outside Willis Tower, where he works. There, the walkways are always clear, thanks to heating cables underneath. "I wish they had them in other parts of the city," said Swafford, 26. "I live in Logan Square, and it's all just like 2 feet of black snow. " Heated sidewalks and driveways are not a new amenity: One Loop sidewalk on...

The Prospect Heights School District 23 Board has approved the construction of a walkway at Eisenhower School to connect the playground with nearby Prospect Court to assist the 37 children who walk to school from that area. Rick Ewanio, the board's finance director and member of the building and grounds committee, said the sidewalk was necessary because drivers take their cars up on the grassy area that now connects the street to the playground so they can watch children at the playground or...

In spring 2012, Peoples Gas installed a meter at Maria and Narciso Contreras' house in Little Village. When the workers were finished, the family said it noticed a problem: Part of the walkway was sticking up, creating a potential hazard for Maria, 71, who is disabled and often walks with the aid of a cane or walker. The couple's daughter, Ruth DiDiana, said she called Peoples that week to complain. It wasn't a question of aesthetics. Maria Contreras...

A block-long covered walkway next to a construction scaffold collapsed on Thursday, trapping and injuring 16 pedestrians, three critically. About 25 people were on the walkway at the time, authorities said. Some scaffolding also fell. "The walls started moving, then the bang. Everything started coming down," said Abigail Reckermann, 50, hospitalized with a swollen ankle. A fire department spokesman said investigators did not know what caused the collapse. ---------- Page compiled from...

A Lockport Street pedestrian walkway over the DuPage River that's expected to better connect the east and west sides of Plainfield's downtown is nearing completion. The $1 million project to erect a walkway on the existing street bridge will better link both sides of downtown, officials say, and will include lights and an observation point above the river. "The bridge was dangerous for people with strollers and bicycles to commute between downtown and the west side," Mayor Mike...

In spring 2012, Peoples Gas installed a meter at Maria and Narciso Contreras' house in Little Village. When the workers were finished, the family said it noticed a problem: Part of the walkway was sticking up, creating a potential hazard for Maria, 71, who is disabled and often walks with the aid of a cane or walker. The couple's daughter, Ruth DiDiana, said she called Peoples that week to complain. It wasn't a question of aesthetics. Maria Contreras...

DEAR TIM: I want to install some flat pieces of rock for a walkway. I'm also using the same stone to make a shortcut where two sidewalks meet at a 90-degree angle. Do you have suggestions on how to trim the stone to fit, how to set the stone in place, and what to fill in the joints with between each piece of stone? I've seen TV shows where they just pour small pieces of rock between the large pieces of stone. --Ron B., Chicago DEAR RON: I'm quite sure I can help you...

Plans are in the works for four mobile classrooms at Jefferson Middle School to be connected to the school's main building by an all-weather walkway, hopefully in time for the start of classes later this month. The District 60 School Board voted Tuesday to spend nearly $64,000 to bolster connections between the mobiles and the main building at 600 S. Lewis Ave. in order to make the temporary facilities more conducive to learning, school officials said. Chicago-based Meade Electric...

The south entrance of the Sachs Recreation Center in Deerfield is slated for a $175,000 face-lift this fall, with landscaping, trees, flowers, aesthetic fencing and new walkways. At a preliminary presentation last week by Deerfield Park District Director of Park Services Jay Zahn and architect Ben Kutscheid, Deerfield Plan Commission Chairman Dan Shapiro asked facetiously, "What took you so long?" Shapiro later added: "Right now the entrance is kind of boring. But (the planned...

As an excavator tore into the former Hair Hut building on Monday, Michael Brommer expressed mixed emotions from his business next door. "I'm happy to see them tearing it down, because it was in a state of disrepair," said Brommer, owner of B. Gunther, an awards store at 4742 Main St. "Yet we're losing an opportunity for more retail space." Opinions vary as to how to attract more customers to downtown Lisle. Village officials think that demolition of the building will allow...

The new Sesquicentennial Walkway cuts through North Central College in Naperville, adding convenience and sustainability to the campus. The 16-foot-wide brick path, which opened in early December, provides a north-south corridor through the center of the campus from Brainard to Loomis streets. The former alleyway was upgraded with an environmentally-friendly design that incorporated permeable brick pavers, lantern-style LED lighting and buried utility lines. DuPage County...

Add character to an ordinary cement walkway with a brick border that will expand its width and soften its appearance with a custom look. Laying down a brick border is an easy and methodical landscaping project, but it's physical work that involves digging up sod and soil and then setting the border in place. You'll need bricks, plastic edging and spikes, sand, as well as a shovel, spade, rake, wheelbarrow, push broom and kneeling cushion or kneepads. The project involves cutting...

By Gene and Katie Hamilton, Tribune Media Services and Do It Yourself or Not? | June 4, 2012

You can't beat the rugged good looks and durability of brick pavers to make a dramatic walkway to a front door or a winding path through a garden. It's an upgrade that enhances a yard or property, so it's sure to be a good investment you'll enjoy for years to come. To install a 25-foot long by 4-foot wide brick walkway, a landscape contractor or mason will charge $1,458, which includes the labor and material. If you're a stout-hearted do-it-yourselfer, you can buy the materials -- good quality brick...

The Elgin City Council on Wednesday evening unanimously approved the construction of an enclosed breezeway to join its unusual twin-building City Hall. The glass and aluminum walkway will add an additional $72,000 to the cost of the City Hall renovation project. The total budget for the project is $969,000, and the city is expected to be about $98,000 over budget when the project is completed this spring, according to Raymond Moller, Elgin's director of business services...

A memorial walkway planned in Tinley Park to honor military veterans is $100,000 closer to being finished by Veterans Day 2012. Village trustees agreed this month to earmark a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to help cover the cost of the project. Planned as an entryway to the new 80th Avenue train station currently under construction, the walkway will lead from Timber Drive to the train station. The project has...

A traffic signal will not be required immediately at a pedestrian walkway in the ongoing Prairie Stone Business Park development in Hoffman Estates. Final plans for a plaza area that will be part of Park Center, a 50-acre tract located in the heart of the business park, were approved Monday by Hoffman Estates trustees. The plans include a pedestrian crossing that will serve the Northern Illinois University campus in the 786-acre development, anchored by the Sears Merchandise Group...

Weather forecasters have a way of predicting the worst possible scenario — that winter storm just might dump a foot or more of snow on your driveway. Sometimes it's just an inch that blows away in the wind. But once in a while, they're right. Sometimes that heavy accumulation will be light and fluffy, too often wet and heavy — and in either case, way too much to shovel. With dustings and just a few slick spots, you can use de-icers to clear walks...